


Fallen Books

by Kalua



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: (Tbh it's the author that had to be comforted), Book Funerals, Damaged Books, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-19
Updated: 2019-03-19
Packaged: 2019-11-24 18:06:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18168425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kalua/pseuds/Kalua
Summary: Throwing out damaged books is hard; maybe you just need a little bit of help from someone.





	Fallen Books

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably a way too specific scenario, but oh well.

You sighed and grabbed one of the damaged books. Or what was left of it, anyway; the first page in it was 246, all the ones before were torn out. You knew you should throw it away, along with the others that had become unreadable. Strengthening your resolve, you picked those up, too.

And put them down on your desk again. It was far from reasonable, but you just didn’t want to get rid of them. If you could give them to someone else, someone who might be happy about them, enjoy reading them as much as you once did, it might be different, but throwing books away just felt wrong, no matter how broken they were.

With another sigh, you took one of the ruined books and flicked through it. Well, you could probably still read about half of it… But that wasn’t enough reason to keep it, and you knew it.

 

A knock on the door distracted you. “Yes?”

Ienzo came in, looked at you, the books, and slightly tilted his head. “Is something wrong?”

“Well, not exactly…” You started twirling a lock of hair around your finger. Ienzo wouldn’t laugh at you for this, right? He seemed like the type to grow attached to his books, too. “I just… Don’t really want to throw them away, you know? I know I should, it’s just… I don’t know.”

“Hm…” Ienzo took a second chair, sat down in front of you and took one or two of the books, flicking through their battered pages. Once he’d put them back down, he crossed his arms, one hand at his chin. “We could give them a funeral,” he said after a moment of silence.

“A what?”

“Well, since they are unreadable now, they could be considered ‘dead’. We’d have to prepare them first, of course, to make sure the inks won’t do any harm, but with a funeral, you would get to treat them more like comrades than like trash. You would be able to give them a proper farewell, too. It shouldn’t be too hard to take care of the ink, and with Lauriam’s help, flowers could grow on them almost instantly.”

Maybe you should have asked him right from the start. “That’s a great idea! Thanks, Ienzo.”

He just smiled. “No problem. Should I take the books with me right now? Then I can notify you when they’re ready to be buried.”

“Yeah, just…” You gently ran your hand down the books’ spines and picked the stack back up, giving it a quick hug before handing it over to Ienzo. “There.”

“I’ll be back soon.”

 

An hour or two later, there was another knock on your door. “Come in.”

“If you want to, you can say goodbye to your books now.” Ienzo’s voice seemed even more gentle than it usually did. You just nodded and followed him to the gardens, where your books were already waiting for you, together with a hole in the ground big enough for them.

You glanced at Ienzo once more before stepping up to them. “Goodbye, my friends…”

Slowly, one by one, you picked the books up. Some you hugged, or stroked their spines or covers one last time, before gently laying them down in the hole. Ienzo stayed back, giving you some space.

Once you were done, you turned back around to see him offering you a shovel. The two of you filled the hole in silence, and the moment you were done, the first flowers started sprouting from the ground.

You stayed at the book grave a little longer before finally returning to the castle; it wasn’t until you were back in its corridors that you spoke again. “Thanks again, for the idea and the help.”

“No problem.” He gave you another smile. “See you around.”

“Yeah, see ya.”

And with that, you parted ways again, you heading to your room and him to the lab.

**Author's Note:**

> ~~Books are friends too.~~
> 
> Main reason I wrote this is that I could use a sweet Ienzo to help me ~~throw away~~ say goodbye to some badly damaged books. Why can't I be randomly visited by a cute scientist to hold a book funeral with?


End file.
